After Adani, Russia also demanded dues from Bangladesh:

Russia has asked Bangladesh to pay the interest on the loan given for the Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant. This interest is $630 million (about Rs 5,300 crore). Russian officials have given a date of September 15 to pay the interest. Earlier, Adani Group had also demanded $800 million outstanding electricity bill from Bangladesh.

According to a Business Standard report, Russian officials wrote a letter to Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division (ERD) on August 21. This letter has now reached local journalists.

In this, ERD has been asked to pay the dues in US dollars or Chinese Yuan. They have asked to deposit it in the Shanghai branch of Bank of China.

Russia gave loan for nuclear power plantAccording to the report, Russia had given Bangladesh a loan of $12.65 billion (Rs 1.06 lakh crore) for the nuclear power plant. It is charging 4% interest on this. As per the conditions, Bangladesh may have to pay 2.4% more interest in case of delay.

15th September is Sunday. Banks will remain closed in China on the next two days i.e. 16th and 17th September. In such a situation, Bangladesh has time till 18th to deposit the interest on the loan. If Bangladesh misses this date, then Bangladesh may have to pay interest at the rate of 6.4%.

Bangladesh asked for time to repay the loan, Russia refused

An agreement was reached between Russia and Bangladesh regarding the loan in December 2015. In this, Russia agreed to give a loan of $ 12.65 billion to Bangladesh. Bangladesh had to spend 90% of this loan on the Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant.

According to the terms of the agreement, Bangladesh will have to pay $189.66 million to Russia in two installments every year for the next 30 years from March 2027. There is also a grace period of 10 years.

Earlier in April, Bangladesh had sought a two-year exemption from Russia in paying off its debt. Bangladesh wanted to repay the debt from March 2029. Then Sheikh Hasina’s government had cited many things including Corona, economic recession for the delay in payment.

Bangladesh had also proposed that instead of taking loans, Russia can invest in the country’s new projects or in the stock market. Apart from this, Bangladesh had also proposed to Russia to buy goods from Bangladesh.

However, in the new letter, Russia has made it clear that it does not accept any proposal. Bangladesh will have to repay the principal of the loan from March 2027 itself.

First nuclear power plant being built in Bangladesh According to the Bengali newspaper Daily Star, Bangladesh has been facing electricity problems for the last few decades. Fuel prices are increasing. Due to this, the production of electricity is becoming more expensive.

To deal with this, Bangladesh started working on generating electricity from nuclear power. For this, an agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Russia in 2010 under which it was agreed to build the Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant on the banks of the Padma (Ganga) River, 160 km from Dhaka.

Work on it finally began in 2017. It is being built by the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom. This plant with two units will generate 2,400 megawatts of electricity which will be able to supply electricity to 15 million homes.

In July this year, RosAtom had said that some Indian companies are also cooperating in this project. At that time, 85% of the work was completed. After the change of power in Bangladesh, the agency had said that the work would continue.

Adani also demanded $800 million A Daily Star report dated September 8 claimed that the Adani Group was demanding $800 million (Rs 6,700 crore) from the Bangladesh Electricity Department (PDB).

The average monthly bill for purchasing power from Adani Power Jharkhand Limited is $100 million while PDB has been able to pay an average of only $20 million.

Bangladesh and Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL) signed a 25-year power agreement in November 2017. Under this, Bangladesh will buy 100% of the power generated from AJPL’s Godda plant. This plant meets 10% of Bangladesh’s power needs.